As a result of adverse weather conditions across Europe, hundreds of flights have been canceled, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at airports in Paris and Amsterdam.
In France, three people died in two incidents related to icy conditions in the Landes department in the southwest. In Paris, there are reports of two victims in separate traffic accidents: one involved a collision between a car and a truck, while in another case, a taxi crashed into a curb and fell into the Marne River due to snow.
Heavy snowfall is also being observed in the Balkans. In the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo, a woman was killed when a tree covered with wet snow fell on her.
Philippe Tabaro, the French Minister of Transport, warned of expected increases in snowfall on Tuesday and Wednesday, urging citizens to stay home and limit travel whenever possible.
The French national meteorological service reported that 38 departments in the country would be under an orange weather warning due to snow and icy conditions, which also led to the cancellation of many train services.
In Paris, at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, a 40% cancellation rate of flights is expected on Wednesday morning to allow for snow removal on the runways. Orly Airport also planned to cancel a quarter of its flights.
In Amsterdam, at Schiphol Airport, more than 400 flights were canceled on Wednesday. Hundreds of passengers were stranded, many unable to transfer to connecting flights, creating long queues at airline counters waiting for information on flight resumption.
The Dutch airline KLM reported a shortage of de-icing fluid for planes and attributed the situation to "extreme" weather conditions and supply delays.
A passenger from Spain, Javier Sepulveda, who was trying to fly from Amsterdam to Norway, described the situation at the airport as "chaotic and unacceptable," noting that he spent six hours in line at the KLM help desk, remaining far from the front of the queue.
Schiphol Airport stated that their snow removal teams are working around the clock to keep the runways operational and ensure passenger safety. Nevertheless, an additional 600 flights scheduled to depart from Schiphol on Wednesday were canceled.
Rail services were also affected: on Tuesday morning, train services in the Netherlands were temporarily halted due to IT system failures, although some trains resumed service after 9:00 AM, with issues persisting throughout the day. Eurostar trains from Amsterdam to Paris were also either canceled or delayed.
